The civilian death toll has risen inexorably for the entire duration
of the US-led military presence in Iraq following the initial
invasion. That is the grim reality uncovered by ongoing tracking of
media reports by the Iraq Body Count project (IBC).
Figures released by IBC today [March 9th], updated by statistics for the year
2005 from the main Baghdad morgue, show that the total number of
civilians reported killed has risen year-on-year since May 1st 2003
(the date that President Bush announced &ldquomajor combat operations have
ended”):
19th March 2004 (324 days: Year 1)
In terms of average violent deaths per day this represents:
The IBC figure for Year 3 includes no deaths from March 2006,
excludes the bulk of killings which followed the 22nd February
bombing of a major Shiite Muslim shrine in Samarra, and lacks Baghdad
morgue data for January and February this year. If January and
February 2006 are excluded as being clearly incomplete, then the
daily death rate for the remaining part of Year 3 rises to 40 (11,480
deaths over 287 days = 40 per day). However even before Year 3 has
ended, and with incomplete data for its final months, the number of
civilians reported killed is already higher than for all of Year 2
(12,617 vs. 11,312).
Although what has been described as 'sectarian violence' undoubtedly
contributes to a growing proportion of deaths, the last year's total
includes 370 known civilian deaths from military action by US-led
forces and 2,231 from anti-occupation activity against coalition and
Iraqi government targets. The post-invasion increase in criminal
activity remains an important concern, but the majority of media
reports do not allow a clear identification of the perpetrators or
their motives. The &ldquounknown agents” who did most of the killing could
fall into any of the categories above, as well as other types of
'terrorist.' Reports also indicate that the past year has seen an
increasing number of extra-judicial executions.
Speaking from London, Iraq Body Count cofounder John Sloboda said,
&ldquoToday's figures are an indictment of three years of occupation,
which continues to make the lives of ordinary Iraqis worse, not
better. Talk of civil war is a convenient way for the US and Iraqi
authorities to mask the real and continuing core of this conflict,
which is between an incompetent and brutal occupying power on the one
hand and a nationalist insurgency fuelled by grief, anger, and
humiliation on the other. This conflict is proof that violence begets
more violence. The initial act that sparked this cycle of violence is
the illegal US-led invasion of March and April 2003 which resulted in
7,312 civilian deaths and 17,298 injured in a mere 42 days. The
insurgency will remain strong so long as the US military remains in
Iraq, and ordinary Iraqi people will have more death and destruction
to look forward to.”
Iraq Body Count cofounder Hamit Dardagan added: &ldquoIn September 2003,
after our first major review of civil insecurity in Iraq informed by
data from the Baghdad morgue, we noted that:
'The US may be effective at waging war but the descent of Iraq's
capital city into lawlessness under US occupation shows that it is
incompetent at maintaining public order and providing security for
the civilian population. The US has toppled Saddam and discovered
that it won’t be discovering any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
So why is it still there? And if the US military can't ensure the
safety of Iraqi civilians and itself poses a danger to them, what is
its role in that country?'
&ldquoThe question still stands, and Iraqis are still being killed in
increasing numbers. How many more must die before the architects of
the 'military solution' for Iraq realise that the only sure way to
reduce violence is to stop inflicting it?”